1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to soil sampling apparatus for obtaining a core sample of a predetermined depth of soil by driving the apparatus into the soil to be sampled. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tubular soil sampling apparatus having two interengaging portions to provide an elongated core of soil, wherein the individual portions are remote from the operator and are sequentially driven into the soil to be sampled, and wherein the interengaging portions are automatically properly oriented relative to each other prior to interengagement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Soil sampling devices for providing a core of soil by driving a tubular member into the soil to be sampled are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 828,527, which issued on Aug. 14, 1906, to O. P. Ankeny, discloses a soil sampling device including a pair of interengaging, core-defining halves that are individually and sequentially driven into the soil to be sampled. The Ankeny device is adapted to be manually driven into the sand by means of cross-bars or handles that are carried by each of the respective sampler portions.
Another form of soil sampling device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,919,461, which issued Jul. 25, 1933, to R. H. Burke et al. The Burke et al patent also discloses a soil core sampling device utilizing a pair of cooperating portions that are individually driven into the earth and then retracted with the core sample contained within the interengaged sampling device portions.
Although the Ankeny and the Burke et al. devices are suitable for their intended purpose, they are very rudimentary devices and are only usable in instances where the soil to be sampled is immediately accessible to the operator taking the core sample. Thus, if it is desired to take a core sample of soil at the bottom of a body of water, the structures of the Ankeny and Burke et al devices are such that the operator would be required to be standing in the body of water, and to apply driving forces to the ends of the core tube members while they and the operator were below the surface of the water, except for very shallow bodies of water.
The present applicant developed an improved soil core sampling device that has the structure and that operates as described in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,133, which issued on Jun. 21, 1994. That device overcomes the deficiencies of the earlier devices and provides an improved soil core sampling device that can provide a core sample of the earth or sediment below a body of water and at a position remote from the operator. It also enables remote alignment, such as from a boat, of the two parts of a two part soil core sampler while the sampler is below the water surface and is immediately adjacent the soil to be sampled.